Ladybugs, Go Eat the Aphids

As Dave mentioned before, aphids infested some crops in the greenhouse. Aphids are tiny sap-suckers that reproduce like mad and literally suck the life out of a plant. They were the culprit of the Irish potato famine.

Aphids are the tiny grey clumps on the lettuce

Earlier this week, we sprayed the infected rows with an organic soapy-water mix that is supposed to kill them which seemed to help. But with a little internet magic, Dave discovered aphids have a natural predator - lady bugs - and there's a supplier in Bozeman. They and their larvae feed off aphids - 40 to 50 per day each. Laurie picked up 2000 ladybugs and last night it was time to release them.

2k ladybugs in that tiny sack

The instructions say to water the plants generously and shake them out close to the pest population during a cool part of the day (morning or evening). So last night, Dave released them to gorge themselves.  Fingers crossed that this will do the trick.

He's officially in charge of the ladybugs